Deviant Dale's IPA | Oskar Blues Grill & Brew

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Was excited to try the souped up version of Dale's Pale Ale. Little pricey but worth it to try a newly available beer here in Beaumont, Texas. I really like Oskar Blues so couldn't pass up the overpriced beer anyway.

Look: amber, copper, red color ale with a lot of lacing and a decent head.

Smell: malts, astringent but clean hops, red/amber IPA character.

Taste: like a malty, red IPA with a good bit of the described hops in the smell to keep things balanced. I've tasted beers with 3/4 the alcohol that are more offensive. Taste is pretty good but nothing outstanding. The feel is where it is at.

Feel: Easy drinker, refreshing, sits well, relatively light for the alcohol. Great taste, easy to session despite the high alcohol (haha). Downed 4 and I don't feel full, great buzz and an awesome beer.

Quick summary: Beer could be a lot more tasty or more unique, not as dull, but I'll be damned if it's not really refreshing and feels good. Thanks OB.

Wow, haven't had this bad boy in probably 3 or 4 years at this point so when I saw some relatively fresh (1/11, so about 5 weeks old), NC-brewed Deviant on shelves, I felt like I had to pick one up to see how I feel about the recipe these days. Glad they're finally listing it as an imperial IPA, as well, as I've always honestly felt like regular Dale's was more like an IPA than an APA... but, I digress. Let's bite into this one!

Pours a deep copper color... perfectly clear with a rather thick khaki-colored head that laces spectacularly as it peters down from 3 or 4 fingers of initial buildup. Not sure how this looked last time I had it... was it totally filtered like this? Who knows, but I do know this looks great in a pint glass. The head is pretty damn long-lasting and the sticky lace bespeaks a solid hop presence, as expected from my previous experiences with DD.

Nose is a bit catty, pungently spicy and earthy with a sharpness to it that definitely seems unlike the current rash of fruity, tropical IPAs. This one seems focused on aggressive older-style West Coast aromatics with some pine, wet earth and grapefruit rind notes atop a biscuity, slightly-caramel-forward malt base. Kind of reminds me of Green Flash's imperial IPA, a beer I remember having for the first time around the same time I first had this "back in the day" of my beer-drinking youth, as it were. Solid but unspectacular nose here.

On the tongue, it's sticky and resinous; elements of caramel/toffee meld with heavy pine sap notes, bitter grapefruit rind and chalky, yeast-like notes. Spicy and almost rye-like with an earthy and citrusy bent, for sure. Very brash flavor; not subtle or nuanced but instead very upfront and forward. Deviant Dale's is pretty much exactly how I recall it, for sure; a no-holds-barred DIPA with a malty undercurrent that nevertheless keeps the body rather lightweight and the finish bitter and punishing. I like the slight slickness in the mid-palate right before the herbal, piney finish washes things out and leaves the tongue dry and wanting another sip. I'm glad I revisited this one and will probably do so again soon.

Pours a clear ruby-orange with three fingers of white foamy head. Head retention is great, as is the lacing leftovers. Aroma is spicy, pine, and resin hops. Hearty bready malt background. Flavor profile is oozing mighty hops - spicy, pine, resin, with a little perfumy finish. Biscuit and bread malts round out the flavor profile. Mouth feel has a little particulate grain to it. Thickness hangs at medium-thick. Overall, a spicy, earthy hopped IPA that drinks more like a DIPA.

Poured from a 12 oz can (canned on 01/11/17),into a Cigar City spiegelau IPA glass.U LITTLE DEVIL!!! lol

Thick creamy head,off white / cream in color,that stands one and a half fingers tall.Very good retention,and sticky lacing on the side of the glass.Hazy amber colored body,with orange and red hues.Moderate clarity,and light carbonation.

On the nose I get bright citrus notes to start off,with piney hops,and earthy malts to balance them out.Some grapefruit and orange notes,with some trace elements of spice.Seems to be some floral notes in there as well,but maybe I'm imagining things.There is also a dankness to the nose.

On the palate I get sweet and earthy malts up front,some bitter piney hops along with floral hops and spices in the middle,and some grapefruit and orange peel citrus on the back end.Nice bitter backbone,with a good balance of hops and malts.

The body is bordering on medium and light with a sticky mouth feel,and a slightly dry / chalky finish.Smooth and drinkable.

This is a very good IPA.I wish I had picked up more than one.I definitely recommend,and would drink again in the future.

On-tap at Old Chicago-Fayetteville, chosen blind based solely on other awesome selections Oskar Blues has and as expected, this did not disappoint. That being said, it was not the hop bomb one expects from what's labled as an Imperial IPA! What I was poured was an extremely easy drinking, smooth tasting DIPA (at most)! There is a lot going on here, at times I was wondering what I was drinking ,the Chicago fire may have altered my pallet a tad, but in-between the spices, tropical notes did shine through, and was good, very good!